title: Associations of Tai Chi, walking, and jogging with mortality in Chinese men.
abstract: Moderate-intensity exercise has attracted considerable attention because of its safety and many health benefits. Tai Chi, a form of mind-body exercise that originated in ancient China, has been gaining popularity. Practicing Tai Chi may improve overall health and well-being; however, to our knowledge, no study has evaluated its relationship with mortality. We assessed the associations of regular exercise and specifically participation in Tai Chi, walking, and jogging with total and cause-specific mortality among 61,477 Chinese men in the Shanghai Men's Health Study (2002-2009). Information on exercise habits was obtained at baseline using a validated physical activity questionnaire. Deaths were ascertained through biennial home visits and linkage with a vital statistics registry. During a mean follow-up of 5.48 years, 2,421 deaths were identified. After adjustment for potential confounders, men who exercised regularly had a hazard ratio for total mortality of 0.80 (95% confidence interval: 0.74, 0.87) compared with men who did not exercise. The corresponding hazard ratios were 0.80 (95% confidence interval: 0.72, 0.89) for practicing Tai Chi, 0.77 (95% confidence interval: 0.69, 0.86) for walking, and 0.73 (95% confidence interval: 0.59, 0.90) for jogging. Similar inverse associations were also found for cancer and cardiovascular mortality. The present study provides the first evidence that, like walking and jogging, practicing Tai Chi is associated with reduced mortality.
authors.affiliation: Division of Epidemiology, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, 2525 West End Avenue, Nashville, TN 37203, USA. xianglan.zhang@vanderbilt.edu
authors.forename: Na
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Xianglan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Yong-Bing
authors.initials: YB
authors.lastname: Xiang
authors.forename: Honglan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Gong
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Xiao-Ou
authors.initials: XO
authors.lastname: Shu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D002908:Chronic Disease; D015444:Exercise; D006801:Humans; D007590:Jogging / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009026:Mortality; D009790:Occupations; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology; D026302:Tai Ji / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016138:Walking / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
keywords: Chinese; Tai Chi; jogging; mortality; walking